Feedback from Embodied Space (with Peter Freeman and George Clement Peer) at Newlyn Art Gallery 24/25 January 2020

There maybe more to add but this is the first batch of comments on Sunday 26 January

Good news contacting Newlyn curator Debbie Sharp in March to chat about programming.

Phoebe and I are very excited to talk with everyone about progression and possibilities, new projects inspired by these events!

You can see live stream from first performance on Facebook, the second one the stream failed sadly as it was, in true fashion, quite different. 

As were the audiences, both warm and wonderful and both full and overflowing capacity, with discussions and chat, immersive audience time in the space afterwards and three very different poems/writing to savour at the end.

Feedback

"Fabulous such lovely movement and interaction"

"So beautiful - seen quite a few Shallal performances, but this was my favourite. The music, the light, the movement - such an otherworldly.....environment to enter...such a tonic such beauty. Thank you 

Kay

PS loved the artwork too!"

"It was very lovely!" from a 16 year old 

"and also nice poems to hear - well done everyone who performed with the calm music it was beautiful and quite simple. It was lovely to watch!" x Eliza x 

"Thank  you so much. You are a joy.

Always great to see your work. Loved the atmosphere changes created with light. 

Felt the containment of working in a small space.

Enjoyed the live music, yet also missed the diversity and surprise of impromptu soundtrack choices in previous shows."

"Wonderful Shallal again a delight.

My eyes had tears."

"Beautifully expressive"

(written in the corner of the page)

"As this page is the use of confined space and the dictation of coloured lights allowed for a superb arena of dance. Yet again simply different from other performances and yet still totally accessible.

Thank you so much enjoyed it."

Paul S

 emails

"Many thanks for another wonderful afternoon

I hope too that ....'s picture gets widely exhibited or displayed. Another extraordinary work.

(...... poem) captured a freshness of "where we are"; I'd like to hear it again in my brain!"

"I enjoyed yesterday's performance so very much. ....

I find everything ... to be inspirational and life-affirming"


~Finally

Dear everyone at Shallal

Fantastic moving performances on Friday and Saturday

Wonderful improvisation and sweet music, you danced through my rainbow, transported the audiences, and created a truly embodied and emotional space in Newlyn Art Gallery.

Thank you all for allowing me the opportunity and privilege of working with you.

.....

Pete ...

a little late night ramble....

I spend the evening tired and then wake up, I'm not sure my sleep pattern will ever be very sane after 5 children and times when Shallal nearly closed! through lack of funds etc.
However tonight is particularly social! most of my co-workers and some artists are happily up and communicating, which feels quite cheery! One problem on the way to being solved, another just sprung up and ....

Background care and concern for those we love and have worked with for years comes into the pattern of our Shallal life and never rests. Freedom and Choice and support and care are sometimes comfortable and sometimes uncomfortable companions. My experience teaches me that for some people expression through the arts isn't an option but necessary for overall health. My experience also proves over and over again how much we all have to give and share.

2 of my friends with support needs in Shallal have difficulties accessing their full creative outlets at present and are battling with very different issues. So much has improved but we can never rest as often the quality of your life is as good as your support systems: those who care, love and understand you and societies ability to offer surrounding care and support. So we go on!

Visibility is one of the key components, people are no longer hidden, sharing is so important..

Mental health which is often so invisible and can be so disabling and chronic health conditions, loneliness and many other elements of our humanity all need support and care and the carers need care!

One of the reasons we are inclusive is just, it was always like it! and i don't believe you should offer something to one group and not make it as available as possible to the whole to the community..

we are not perfect we could do more, be more inclusive and we challenge ourselves...

Parents who bring their children often then join in and some end up valuing it as part of their routine as much as their children do, some support workers look forward to it as much as those they support to be there.

This ramble started with looking at work patterns, society is changing, how do we move forward in health and healing, service, celebration and care.

I hope if you come to the events on Friday and Saturday you will experience a celebration, sharing and something of the power of art in all our lives, and feel reenergised to create and maintain a caring society and community for all our futures.

Paramenters for improv/ musings for exhibition selection/welcome to Jerry Drew

Parameters suggestions for Open Improv and performance
refining the second 3

3 instructions:

1.
Do your own thing
Working with others 
Be still

with
3 more for performance /events

2.
Exit? - when you don't know what to do leave the 'stage'
Support others - if/when needed
Bigger Picture - what does it look like/what are you adding?

So here we are, last Embodied Space in this project, but not in our future repertoire as this is the way i and many of the performers love to work!

Lou reminded me of the wider conversation which has been percolating underneath but now needs a light shone on it to help discussion, comment, observation, feedback, sharing with this approach with our peer group.
Also delving into immersive experience, which we can't do all the time as a small space this time, but will invite audience if they would like to come in in the second half.

Good comment from (our project dance artist mentor) Harry Theaker with Colin now pursing the idea of Facebook streaming.

Such a good team these days sitting round the table ( yesterday was our business meeting) with Phoebe joining us (and Hennie our chairperson)
WELCOME 
to Jerry Drew our new business manager! hurray

Always the unexpected last minute curved ball dear Robins film files crashed - he is now working in South Africa with sharks! - the files didn't send overnight so now it says 50 hours remaining as we all know that's not accurate but it does mean a LONG time and i'm out today with Phoebe
choosing work and arranging it ready for Colin to hang tomorrow, might whats app my brother and see if he can help me understand how to keep it going!

Collecting Josephs paintings today! he has been working on them every Friday with his grandfather who is a St Ives artist supporting him, he and i are very excited for this.
I framed one of Josephs drawings he gave Peter this Christmas and Eddie sold a painting yesterday at Falmouth Art Gallery and we have plans for Janet and Peter and all to be discussed after the weekend.

The exhibition will be diverse full of colour and worth a visit!

Oops and rushing past the printers to collect 4 Welcome to JerryDrew photos of Anna's early this morning...

magenta light BLW 

Event and Janet in studio !! & news of dating agency

Thanks to Lou who is doing such wonderful posters for recent events!

So looking forward to this one.

Don't miss:
Shallal Dance Theatre
Embodied Space
within installation by light artist Peter Freeman
http://www.peterfreeman.co.uk/index.htm#abou
& improvised music by George Clement Peer.

2019 saw Shallal Dance Theatre in some wonderful spaces including an Eden Project Biome, Minack Theatre Car Park, Kestle Barton wildflower meadow ( a highlight), Falmouth Art Gallery, Tremenheere Gallery, Sterts Theatre, Liskerett Centre, each performance spontaneous and utterly different.

These are the last two performance events of our Here and Now Project, circling back to where we started at Newlyn Gallery last January but in a very different guise as along the way at the Minack we met Peter Freeman! and we are so excited to work together, we previewed working together at our Back Lane West Residency and we hope to continue after this.
We'd love your feedback and will open the space up for immersive experience and exploration with us after the 30 min performance.

Colour, Sound and some expressive Shallal dancers is a pretty good combination to expand the depths of winter and brighten your day!

.................................................

On Friday we had our annual Sponsored dance and warmed back up into the world of moving, as someone said it can be hard to come out of hibernation at this time of year.

Within it we had an hour of improvised music and working with very long stretchy material and elastic, good to have so much uninterrupted time for exploring.

We miss Star who is resting her broken foot, and dear Zoe Wilton is having her first ever break from Shallal Dance Theatre, she is the longest attending member now ( founder member of 30 years!) so i think she can have a sabbatical! and is enjoying baking apparently. We hope she will return for our next project and meanwhile as often happens ( people move sideways in Shallal to other parts so still connected ) and she is at the Shallal Studio on Wednesdays with Phoebe.

Which leads me onto why i was writing this, i went to work with Eddie today at the studio, we meet for an hour to look at media, design etc currently wanting to make a new Shallal 2 poster, and Janet and Phoebe were there!

Oh joy when the Studio initiative was thought of one of the main artists we were inspired by was Janet. I met Janet over 20 plus years ago when i founded (with Artshare) and co-ran Dance and Draw for people moving out of Budock Hospital and others in the community. Janet then went on to do fantastic art work at Annexe Arts run by Lisa Mortensen, whose high standard of facilitation work is another inspiration for the studios.

So there was Janet today stuck into wonderful large canvas paintings, and Phoebe, like her studio assistant, supporting her process and 2 lovely support workers.

I do like to chat and had lovely conversations and insights and met Sam who has started Hand in Hand a dating agency - much needed - so impressed and wish him all the best with it.

https://handinhandcornwall.org/

Phoebe and Lou have worked really hard last term developing the studio and it's wonderful to see it start to embed itself and our dreams materialise. Looking forward to a cup of tea together and chatting around future potential developments with Phoebe tomorrow.

You can see images on our instagram.

                                                 www.instagram.com/shallalarts

On another note my family recently need more of my time and will do so for a while, so i am in the process of adjusting my work load and getting people involved to back me up, it has been hard to take the decisions (as i love my work), but i also already see benefits from it as it opens up the work more which is a good thing for skills sharing, gaining experience and for our longterm sustainability, diversity and progression.

Our first administrator Diana Morris' mantra was "family first" and we are forever grateful for all her combined experience and wisdom which underpins all our background ethos and approach.

end of term

Here we are end of term and a holiday (much needed for me) break!
What a fabulous term, all the Embodied Space events at the beginning and the Shallal Sketchbooks, Open Studios at the end, topped off with Christmas Sharing (Friends and Dancing), party ( Shallal Dance Theatre), general mince pies and good cheer at end of most sessions, and AGM.
Big thank you once again to Matt Leach our business manager who leaves before 2020, we hope to see him at some events in the future.
And welcome to our new business manager whoever you are? decision nearly made i think?!
Thank you to everyone and Lou and Barbara working hard behind the scenes with funding applications.
Now our organisational development has improved so much the final hurdle is archiving, having just spent tooo many hours attempting to retrace where i have stored photos from 2013/4! I know they are there somewhere!
In my personal life a kind person is helping me organise and streamline my book keeping and now with Phoebe's help in the new year we will eventually start to formally catalogue our wonderful past photos and film clips...phew. This is all part of Shallal becoming more independent from me on admin side so we can all work to our strengths and i can focus on people, creative developments, partnerships and collaborations.
Thank you and Happy Holidays and looking forward to the New Year!
We will leap straight into exhibition and performance at Newlyn Gallery, culminating where we started our journey. Last year we performed in the top gallery with recorded music, live poetry and song and this year we will collaborate with Pete Freemans fantastic lights and George's live improvised music....for our final Embodied Space in this project
1.30pm Friday 24 January
3pm  Saturday 25th January
Gallery open 10-5

Katie, Zo and Kerry T
Back LaneWest R&D with Peter Freeman

Visions ...and thanks

A vision realised:

this Friday with Shallal Dance Theatre after a good practice with George in the morning, followed by lunch, I stayed to discuss R&D progress with Signing with Demelza and those staying on for Art and Production went on ahead to our Krowji Studio.

Star left early to prepare for Bowie Lounge that is another vision realised as she came to Shallal initially to extend her improvisation experience and has excelled in that in the hugely successful Bowie Lounge ( sold out for Saturday at AMATA)

The weekend before Shallal Studios had been part of Krowji Open Studios, a first and really successful, lots of interest, and Hayley sold a print! (Thank you Phoebe, Lou, Colin, who enabled it to happen and Pam and Eddie and who helped welcome etc)

So I eventually ended my Friday dropping into the studio and joy of joys a vision realised, I was greeted by a calm concentrated silence and looked around to see Tina and Sam drawing at the table, using varied mediums, Colin poised by an easel contemplating his painting of cliffs and the potential addition of a raven, Toby at another table finishing poetry book illustrations and Zoe editing her film and photographs on the iMac.

This vision of artists working together in company but on their own creativity is also echoed in the Bowie Lounge - a must see when it’s next on.

Zoe and Eddie have for many years asked to be more involved in editing and design in Shallal and until this studio and the iMac, we haven’t had the time, facilities or equipment to support it.

I've just written my annual report and so much has been able to grow from the background organisational development and roles, thank you to all! you know who you are!! It gets harder to thank people individually as Shallal is made up of many parts and we all make a greater whole and trust, respect, group manners, gratitude and appreciation are all a part of it. Also the wonderful ability to disagree and debate which is important for creativity and collaboration, so often many of the best ideas are ones I’m initially not sure about or equally I suggest something which is challenged and changes.

In our challenging times the ability to think creatively, collaborate and adapt to change and work together is needed more than ever.

When I was 50 Dot Peyer sat me down and tried to help me navigate an understanding of applications and funding, I was a terrible student continually interrupted by a 6 year old and home educated teenagers! And I’m very grateful to her for all her hard work for us. Lou then stepped in and I was still not much wiser…now I say re funding that I know the territory I have the map but am not the best person to actually drive you there! I can however  read the map and see the lie of the land.

Shallal has always attracted support and we are very grateful to Barbara Santi who has written social and heritage applications for us and helped plan and deliver and sustain us. Along now with the business meeting team and invaluable very talented trustees.

Returning to Dot she said you need to think of succession and how you progress and where you are in it all. I always think, “I never know if i’ll be alive tomorrow”  (so you can see how planning didn’t come easily to me, but Shallal is important to many people and I have learnt to think ahead!)

I planned that by 60 ( 4 years to go ) there would be more in place and I could step back a little if needed, and Im stepping back a little earlier now as my family need me. My family have always been wonderfully supportive and often insightful and helpful with my work. I don’t know if this will be for long or not but we shall see. Why I’m writing is I have taken a few weeks to look and have been so pleased to step back on some projects knowing those involved are so gifted and will bring more to them and develop them within Shallal ethos and with their own personalities, gifts and strengths with a strong emphasis on cross art form, collaboration, personal unique expression and fun! 

" nothing better to do?!, outlet for creative synergy/cross art form....boost to social confidence, more creative freedom attracts people” notes from Toby Bridge on Friday while answering some queries about how people are attracted to Shallal.

So I am still in: Shallal 2, it’s on my doorstep, and Shallal Dance Theatre, my creative home for 30 years, and supportive in Shallal Studios and at Liskeard group but at a reduced level.

Matt Leach our business manager leaves us soon and we can’t express how grateful and appreciative we are for him and his talents and unruffled personality, making business meetings a joy! even though my brain has to recover afterwards.

So thanks you to everyone throughout Shallal for your support and creativity and here’s to more visions realised personally and collaboratively. 

Open Studios at Krowji and more...

Busy time.
Arts council application in thank you Lou and Colin, and Barbara busy working on another application.
Matt our beloved business manger has to leave us as his other work increases. We will really miss him, his level lightness, efficiency and proficiency has stabilised us and so helped our organisational development, and our monthly business meetings are a pleasureable event.
Anyone out there with the skills we are still open for applications!

The studio goes from strength to strength and we are watching it unfold within our original vision and then with the elements which each unique person brings to it.
Sink/s in and we are moving furniture around and getting ready next week for...

Poster by Lou and drawing by Yvonne, they both work in the studio on Thursdays. Thank you to Phoebe who with support is coordinating  and curating the event.
Celebration 11am -3pm Saturday 30 November.

Thank you to Nikki Kelly who is pointing people to our sessions and studio. We are meeting on Monday to discuss developing opportunities and maybe growing another community group.
Tuesday she has invited us to....

Shallal Dance Theatre performing 2pm and Shallal Sketchbooks will be there.

Personally I am looking at backing myself up and handing some work over as some of my family need more care. I have been aware that i might need to do this for sometime and it feels daunting and also exciting as new life and energy comes in with associate artists and facilitators developing and groups grow.
Since it became a charity in 2005 Shallal has been able to develop and do so much more and we are small, flexible and resilient which has enabled our survival, and in the nature of art have built work from the strength and talents of those involved.
Victoria ( welcome back!) and Claire ( welcome) met with me this week and we are planning the continuation and development of Shallal Sketchbooks. Thank you to Kerry who has been looking after it and now passed it on to focus more on facilitation  - Open House, Penzance with Colin which is thriving.
There is much to be inspired by and Toby showed me his drawings towards our dreamt of poetry book. They are wonderful and fully convey the feeling of the poem and i realise he has seen them all performed. Many of us in Shallal have such a legacy of creativity together.

Robin's film is in danger of not getting the exposure it deserves, i hope to post it on FB soon! It's one of the best insights into the joy of a session...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDjN0WJAbWA

Also such a pleasure to use the music Johnny Mars kindly 'gave' us some time ago. https://www.johnnymarsfoundation.co.uk/
A legacy from the beauty of Tom's life, as Johnny played at his funeral and contacted me through Tom's mum after seeing this.....
https://vimeo.com/282940023

Fun time at Shallal Dance Theatre today and we haven't decided how to support the XR Strike on Friday..it may just be we have this poster out and about at all our public events..,we will have a think!